Australia-based automated payment technology startup Airwallex has received $13m in a series A round backed by internet group Tencent and payment services firm Mastercard.
Venture capital firm Sequoia Capital China also participated in the round, which followed $3m in a June 2016 pre-series A round led by Gobi Partners that included fellow China-based VC firm Huashan Capital One and angel investor Billy Tam.
Founded in 2015, Airwallex has built a software platform that utilises machine learning in order to calculate the most cost-effective way of settling individual cross-border payments. It employs a transparent pricing model and can support thousands of transactions per second.
Jack Zhang, co-founder and chief executive of Airwallex, said: “Our mission is to eradicate the burden of international payments so that businesses can transact across borders with ease.
“Armed with a growing number of financial services licences and partnerships across numerous jurisdictions, we aim to make international payments as cheap and simple as domestic payments.”
Airwallex is also a graduate of Mastercard’s Start Path accelerator initiative, having joined the scheme in September 2016.